Ashcroft Says US Should Focus on Terrorists Not Syrian Refugees

Former US Attorney General John Ashcroft says the nation should keep its focus on the terrorist threat rather than the Syrian refugees.
“What’s important for us is to focus on terrorists, not to try and include broader groups who may or may not include individuals who may or may not be involved in the terrorist movements,” Ashcroft told KMBC TV Friday in Kansas City.
Ashcroft was the nation’s Attorney General when America was attacked on September 11, 2001.
During his time at the Justice Department, the former Missouri Governor supported passage of the US Patriot Act, which increased security after the deadly attacks in New York, the Pentagon.
Ashcroft said he did not think the entire terrorist threat was wrapped up in Syrian refugees.
“The threat is from terrorism. But many people from Syria need a place to go…but we (the US) also need a safe place in which to live and work.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has not tried to block refugees from coming to the state, as 31 other Governors have done.
That includes Kansas Governor Sam Brownback.
At the same event, Nixon says the state needs to keep its options open. He says Missouri can balance the need to keep citizens safe and still respect the tradition of accepting refugees.
Former US Senator Kit Bond, who also served in the Missouri Governor’s mansion, says the refugee problem was “a huge threat”.
Nixon and Ashcroft were at a rare event where all six living Missouri Governors appeared.
Governors Kit Bond, Ashcroft, Roger Wilson, Bob Holden, Matt Blunt and Nixon were guests of the Hawthorn Foundation.
That group was started by Bond in 1982. It helps governors fund overseas trade missions to attract business to Missouri